


From the Pit

by SoDoLaFaMiDoRe



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Languages and Linguistics, M/M, Oneshot, Pre-War, War Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 19:02:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5139053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoDoLaFaMiDoRe/pseuds/SoDoLaFaMiDoRe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the making of a friend across the datastream, Orion's learning of his language could throw their lives onto a path neither fully understood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From the Pit

Orion had known Megatronus for only a few cycles now, but they’d easily become close friends, talking about anything and everything. However, there was always a little snag in communications, especially late at night or when Megatronus was particularly stressed.

He’d switch into Pit Kaoni and leave Orion lost on what he was trying to say. Orion knew it was never meant out of maliciousness, and actually learned quite a few creative swears, but he could also tell it was frustrating for his friend to be the only one trying to translate their thoughts into a different communication system,

The solution had been so stupidly simple Orion wanted to slap himself for not suggesting it earlier. When there was a quiet time in the Archives, most other mechs having left for the night cycle, he asked the simple question. “Megatronus, what if you taught me Pit Kaoni?” There was a pause as the message was sent along the data networks, showing up at whatever device his friend used for communicating, and Orion rocked back and forth on his heels as he waited for a response.

“It’s not a written language, I can’t send data pads or downloads on it Orion.” Orion smiled to himself, taking comfort in the recording of his friend’s voice in the chat boxes.

“So, that doesn’t mean I can’t learn from you. How do you greet someone?” Sending the recording, Orion let his mind wander and try to piece together how his friend’s language sounded altogether based off what little snippets he’d heard. He’d become so lost in thought, he startled when the computer pinged he had a message.

Opening it, he smiled as his friend’s voice played out over the speakers. “Well, um, This is how you say a basic greeting in my part of Kaon.” Megatronus resetting his vocalizer, a slight rustling noise as he shifted, and then the most Unicron-Cursed noise filled the speakers. It gave Orion a jolt, leaping back from the console.He likened the noise to a broken vent fan being filled with molten slag. Realizing his friend was probably waiting for a reply, he reached for the record button, cleared his throat, and pressed it.

“Krzzch? Like that?” He drummed his fingers as he waited for a reply, and was quickly met with the little box signifying a response.

“That’s good! Try and make the sound come out like energon stuck in your intake valve, but that was good!” Orion smiled to himself at the praise, attempting the noise a few more times with some critiques from his friend before being deemed passable.  
It became quite common for Orion to stay at his console station for over a joor after his shift, picking up more and more of his friend’s language while Megatronus talked politics and shared poetry with him. He found himself itching to talk to his friend when archiving was slow, running over everything he’d been taught about the language. Jazz teased him for it often, telling him he sounded like a trashbot with a clogged intake, but even he could see how close the two friends were, and how much easier their conversation flowed as both expressed themselves in their own mixture of Pit Kaoni and Standard Cybertronian.

\----

Over time Orion became better with his pronunciation, Megatron teaching him more abstract concepts and their expression in Pit Kaoni until they were able to hold long political debates well into the early joors of the recharge cycle, debating the best ways to go about fixing the problems their planet was facing.

With one of the rare planet-wide holidays coming up, even Megatronus had been given a leave-pass to have a deca-cycle out of the mines. Alpha Trion had given a good-natured huff from his vents when Orion excitedly mentioned inviting Megatron to visit Iacon. 

Meeting the mech in person had been... intimidating to say the least. While he reached Megatronus’ shoulder, Orion was built for the datawork, the only bulky parts of his frame being in his torso to store the multitude of data cables used for file transfers. Megatronus was built for the heavy work of the mines, and his scarred frame showed it.

“Krzzch!” Was all Alpha Trion could make out from his portion of the archives before it turned to a mindless buzzing noise in his audials, noting how close Orion stood to his guest as he gave him a tour of the archives and their multitudes of datapads shelved away for future Cybertronians to reference.

As the conversation went on, Alpha Trion could only understand bits and pieces of the Standard Cybertronian that slipped in, the rest sounding like two rusting turborats fighting in a mesh bag. Turning his attention away from the two mechs, he continued to sort datapads as Orion chatted on.

\----

By the time their guest had left, Orion was near glowing with excitement and couldn’t stop chittering to himself in the strange language. Alpha Trion just smiled to himself, noting that Orion was much happier in his work as he sent pings to his friend and helped with the going-ons of the archives and the data transfers from other archives across the planet.

But not all was right. Even with the more detached job of data sorting, not all the archivists had proved immune to the Senate’s going-ons. Orion’s talks with his friend has become longer and longer, Pax asking for clarification on the nuances of translating the words such as, “Protests,” and, “Functionalism,” and their messages became longer and more heated.

A strange turn of events had led to Orion and Megatronus coming to the Senate.

\----

“Megatronus, I’m worried.” Orion was wringing his servos, feeling out of place in the ostentatious architecture and mechs defining the building. A comforting servo on his shoulder helped settle his fuel tank.

“Don’t be, we’re in this together Orion. Would learning something else help keep you calm?” Megatronus was smiling, all sharp teeth and genuineness that helped keep his friend calm. “This one's harder to translate, so I can teach you the meaning when we’ve succeeded here.” A heavy cough, and all mechs in the room turned at the screeching noise, surprised at the harshness in their ornate, ostentatious hall.

“That’s a long one. Strz krk jir zeecc tizzch?” He seeme to have done it well enough, considering how Megatron smiled.

“Good. I’ll tell you what it means when this is all over.”

\----

It had taken nearly 3 million years of fighting before Orion could learn what the phrase meant. One of the refugee planets had been a neutral area, with a small group of Kaonites in the crowd of mechs, and one had known a close dialect to Pit Kaoni. When he’d had a moment of quiet after a battle, he’d sought the mech out to ask what the phrase met, one he’d been turning over ever since the fracturing of their friendship.

“Well, it’s not a phrase you hear every day Prime. It doesn’t quite have an equivalence in Standard, but it’s close to saying, “You are the keeper of my spark,” but there’s a lot of things in that that don’t work. You’ve got the knowledge, I’m sure you could understand what that’s trying to say.” With quick thanks, Optimus found somewhere to sit and think.

\----

“Optimus! When will you yield!? You know the Decepticons are going to be the winners in the end! You cannot defeat me!” Megatron looked half-mad from battle-rage as they locked swords, Optimus thankful for the battlemask to hide his emotions as he looked for a trace of his former friend in Megatron’s faceplates, as he always had in the eons since their war had started. Leaning in close, the din of battle seemed to die away.

“Megatronus, Strz krk jir zeecc tizzch.” Time seemed to freeze for a moment, the two mechs staring at one another, struts forgetting to move. When the attack resumed, a large portion of fight had gone out of both of the leaders, and the battle fizzled as both sides retreated to battle another day.

The war wouldn’t end until one or both had move onto the well of Allsparks, but the bitter taste started 4 million years ago would never be washed away. They were no longer the young idealists sharing words and debating politics; they were bitter rivals with energon on their servos and burned bridges to show for their brotherhood.

But with that small phrase, there was something in their pasts that could finally be laid to rest. One moment in the war that could be resolved, even if could never be again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Have a nice time, wherever you are!


End file.
